Al Mansouri eyes more trade partnerships

Abu Dhabi (WAM) - Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy will lead the UAE delegation participating in the Partnership Summit 2014 scheduled to be held in Bangalore, India from Jan.27 -29. The UAE delegation includes representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Dubai Export Development Corporation, Dubai Foreign Investment Office, Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL), Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), and other companies. Al Mansouri speaking on the importance of participation in the summit, said it sought to achieve more cooperation and partnership in trade and economy, and would give an opportunity to leverage the promising investment opportunities aimed at contributing to accomplish mutual benefits among UAE and India and other participating countries. He also pointed out the distinguished economic ties between the two sides, describing UAE, as largest trade partner of India and ranks first globally. The trade volume between the two countries reached nearly US$41 billion in 2012, while the UAE's imports reached US$21 billion and the non-oil exports, including re-exports reached US$20 billion in the same year. He added that the total trade exchange between the two countries from 2008-12 reached to nearly US$200 billion, where India ranks first in the list of trade partners of the UAE. He also mentioned that the UAE was the top trade partner of India during 2011-12, representing 10 per cent of the total foreign trade of that country in 2012, similarly its share in India’s total trade with the GCC countries was 50 per cent and 38 per cent with the Arab countries. On his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Saleh underscored the importance of joint projects in the Information Technology (IT), computer and other associated fields in order to meet the needs of the local and regional markets, through benefiting from the Indian sophisticated technology in this area. - Emirates News Agency, WAM